Generally, absorbent articles like sanitary napkins, overnight pads, pantiliners, incontinent garments and even some underarm shields are designed to be attached to an adjacent garment, such as an undergarment, in order to hold the product stationary during use. Pressure-sensitive adhesives provide a common means of affixing a product to an adjacent garment. The pressure-sensitive adhesive can be designed to contact either the adjacent undergarment or the user's skin. One disadvantage of using pressure-sensitive adhesives is that the adhesive has to be covered by a releasable peel strip to prevent foreign matter from contaminating it prior to use. The peel strip increases the cost of the final product and the presence of the peel strip requires the end user to physically remove it before using the product. Representative samples of pressure-sensitive adhesive attachments can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,850,991; 4,701,178 and 4,690,680.
Other means of holding an absorbent article secure to an undergarment includes mechanical type fasteners. These include buttons and button holes, hooks and loops, and end extensions and tabs which are designed to interlock or engage some type of supporting belt or strap. These types of fasteners are being used less frequently today because most women find them difficult to attach and some are not very discrete under tight fitting clothing. Representative samples can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,609,373; 3,749,095; 3,704,710; 3,460,535; 3,420,236; 2,949,114 and 2,890,701.
Another approach to holding two members together is to utilize cohesive-adhesives. A cohesive-adhesive is a material which, after being coated or impregnated onto a surface, has an affinity for itself. Various compositions and types of cohesive-adhesives have been used on diapers, paper bags and hospital gowns to provide fastening means. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,522,874; 4,342,808; 4,040,124; 3,921,221 and 3,745,587 teach some examples of how cohesive-adhesives can be used. However, none of the above prior art patents teach attachments of different disposable absorbent articles, each bearing a cohesive-adhesive surface, onto a reusable undergarment. The attachment of an absorbent article, by it's cohesive-adhesive, to the cohesive-adhesive coated onto the crotch portion of an undergarment ensures that the absorbent article will be held stationary relative to the undergarment.
Now an attachment system and method of attaching an absorbent article to an undergarment has been developed which will eliminate the use of pressure-sensitive adhesives and a releasable peel strip.